Case Study: Westmoreland Wins Over $1 Million for Victim of Drunk Driver

At Westmoreland Injury Lawyers, there are a number of things that we do
better as a law firm dedicated to serving our neighbors right here in
Greensburg. While we’re a small firm, our experienced and caring personal injury
attorneys have the knowledge in a variety of specialties required to win cases
and get justice for clients just like you.

Have you been hurt in an accident that wasn’t your fault? You’ll
take a particular interest in today’s post.

This success story illustrates how our lawyers closely
collaborated to get a drunk driving accident victim over $1 million for their
injuries by leveraging workers’
compensation benefits, traditional personal injury law focused on auto
accidents, and more.

Background

Our client was hit in their car by a drunk driver who
crossed over into the opposite lane of travel. It’s important to note that this
driver who caused the crash was a repeat DUI offender, and the accident took
place not late at night after the bars were closing down, but around
5:30PM—work commuting time in most areas. Scary, right? You never who is
sharing the roads with you during your normal daily travels.

Seriously injured in the accident that should have never
occurred, it was unclear for a time whether our client would ever walk again.
The underinsured
motorist coverage on their auto insurance policy was certainly not going to
cover the medical bills and costs associated with physical therapy or the
client’s lost wages.

In reviewing this case, however, our lawyers immediately
recognized several additional opportunities to recover compensation for the
client. It would be complicated and involve more than just one attorney’s time,
however.

The Challenge

In many cases involving auto injuries, the challenge is the
same, though the facts of the accident may be vastly different—finding enough
money for the victim and/or their family. Even if all involved parties have
auto insurance, limits are often quickly met, and insurance companies will also
rush to settle
your claim as soon as possible.

This means personal injury lawyers will have to explore
other resources to get unfairly injured individuals—like our client in this
particular case—more appropriate compensation.

In our work for this drunk driving victim, we were fortunate
to have workers’
compensation as a resource since the client was required to drive as part of
their job. This helped us help them focus on recovery from their severe
injuries while we pursued the at-fault driver in court. Social
Security Disability also came into play.

Still, these several sources were not going to total up to enough either. This is where a lesser-used body of law known as dram shop—which allows drunk driving victims and their families to sue retailers and bars for providing alcohol to an individual responsible for causing an accident—comes into play.

Now, dram shop is rarely successful because it relies very
heavily on evidence that can be difficult to prove. But we felt confident in
our ability to see justice served against the bar where this particular drunk
driver had been drinking all day before getting in the car.

Successful Outcome

This case was a great example of when things go well thanks
to dogged determination and the willingness of our attorneys to utilize all of
their varied experience and leave no stone unturned for a deserving client. As
we mentioned earlier, it took the expertise of more than one attorney to work
through workers’ compensation, insurance settlements, Social Security
Disability (SSD) benefits, and trial proceedings, but it was well worth the
effort of everyone involved from Westmoreland Injury Lawyers.

Luckily, this client had also taken steps to protect
themselves “just in case,” which helped make our job easier. And you can take
these precautions, too, by having underinsured motorist insurance, which not
everyone does. Side note: having state minimum auto insurance coverage is NOT
going to serve you well in most accidents, but certainly not in ones that
involve uninsured or underinsured drivers. Miraculously, the drunk driver in
our case had some insurance, but our victim’s underinsured coverage paid out
about $100,000.

In addition to car insurance settlements, our victim’s
workers’ compensation coverage and eligibility for SSD helped, and we were also
able to recover about $100,000 from the defendant. Our biggest victory, though,
came from the dram shop laws working in our favor. Our lawsuit against the
drunk driver’s bar netted us about $750,000 for our client.

The bottom line in this case? We literally got every dollar
we could for our client, who was very happy and has actually had an excellent
recovery from their injuries.

While these types of cases can often take years to fully
resolve, here at Westmoreland Injury Lawyers, we know—and promise to our
clients—that it’s worth it. Patience and a comprehensive, collaborative
approach by skilled personal
injury attorneys like ours absolutely pays off. And while much bigger firms
often push to settle quickly to pay their own bills, we know this is not the
way to get the best outcome for a client.

Westmoreland Injury Lawyers Can Get Results for You, Too

Have you been injured at the hands of a drunk or
distracted driver, or do you have questions about workers’ compensation claims?
You can trust that our compassionate personal injury lawyers will do whatever
it takes to get you the compensation you deserve. Get in touch
with us today for a free case review!

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Our office is conveniently located on Route 30 in Greensburg, PA, just across the street from the Wal-Mart Plaza.
Walk-in appointments are welcome and all consultations are FREE! Plus, when we take your case, you don't spend a dime unless we recover money for you.